Loss of Trust on Wall Street and Main Street

(comment)

2008 12:35 pm

I think there is a more specific kind of "trust" that has been lost, not just banker's knowledge of individuals.

It is my clear impression, perhaps wrong, that decades ago there was a social norm of honesty and an ethic of hard work. Everyone didn't have an attorney who found loopholes, and people depended on having "a reputation" in the community, that they cared about, whether anyone was watching or not.

A man's record of honesty is what generated "trust" in the society, because he was, well, trustable.

These days it seems that the social norms have changed, and people in general certainly seem less "trustable" to keep their word, even when inconvenient or expensive to do so. Bankers do not trust other bankers. Countries sign treaties and then abandon them at the first inconvenience.

Some political advisors not only recommend dishonesty but seem to exult in their ability to be dishonest "successfully."

Political candiates seem willing to promise whatever suits them, or the crowd, at that moment, and seem to feel no obligation whatsoever to do what they promised before being elected. The idea seems strange that they should be, in any way, "held to" what they promised.

Without THAT kind of trust, no one is willing to make any sort of verbal deal with anyone else for anything. No politician is willing to give away X now in exchange for a promise from another politician to give back Y later. The promise, which used to be disaster to violate, now seems to have no weight at all.

Not too surprisingly, by discounting the past and wantonly disregarding the future, there is very little room left to negotiate in "this instant."

Maybe rich people never trusted each other, and they certainly never trusted poor people - but many poor people actually do trust each other, surprise. Many communities are places where neighbors don't lock their cars or their doors. [see note]

That worked. This doesn't.

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[note: - Michael Moore noted in one of his movies the amazing distinctions crossing the river from Detroit Michigan to Windsor Ontario, heading South. (check the map, yes, South.) In much of Windsor, people don't lock their houses. Moore interviewed one person and asked if they had ever been robbed. Yes, they had. So now do they lock their house? No, "it would just feel wrong." ]